


Sprinting in the Sewer

by Mommadon



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Challenge Response, F/M, Fluff, Lukanette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:22:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26181091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mommadon/pseuds/Mommadon
Summary: Marinette did not feel cute, not one little bit.  But amazingly, someone makes her feel not only cute, but adorable.One prompt.  3 fifteen minute writing sprints.  Minimal editing.  Not even a tiny bit sorry.  <3
Relationships: Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 24
Kudos: 96
Collections: LBSCSprintFicChallenge





	Sprinting in the Sewer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [verfound](https://archiveofourown.org/users/verfound/gifts).



> Hey friends, nice to see you here! 
> 
> This is my Ladybugs and Snake Charmers Discord Server sprint challenge result. The rules: we all had the same prompt and got three fifteen minute sprints to write the fic. We got twenty-four hours after that to do a smidge of editing, but I only added a sentence for clarification, and cleaned up a few typos that happen when you type as fast as you can. So, my apologies if this is redundant or incoherent. I tried really hard to keep it as close to my sprint results as possible. In other words, this is just for fun. I hope all you other writers out there try doing some writing exercises like sprints or marathons with a group of friends who are as encouraging and friendly as the folks at the LBSC Discord Server! And to my Lukanette buddies? This one's for you. <3

Marinette did not feel cute. She’d seldom felt _less_ cute in her life. For one, it wasn’t a good time of the month for feeling cute. For two, she’d hardly gotten any sleep the last two nights, thanks to Hawkmoth’s lousy timing. For three, she was knee-deep in raw sewage. For four, she’d lost her favorite necklace—the one she’d gotten from a secret admirer last Valentine’s day—when it slipped through the drain, and it was just the end of the lousiest week of her life and no she did _not_ feel cute, thank you very much.

“It’s no use,” she gulped, trying not to inhale the stench of the sewer as much as possible. “It’s gone and gone forever.”

“It’s not your fault, Marinette,” Tikki supplied from beside her. “Besides, it was just a necklace—”

“It was more than a necklace, Tikki, it was a gift from a secret admirer. The last gift of that week, and it was so special. It made me feel so wonderful. Everything was picked out just for me—whoever sent it really cared about me. And that’s something that I really needed,” she added with a sigh. To be honest, she really needed someone to care about her right now too, but Valentine’s day was months ago, and she just knew her secret admirer had to be long gone. That necklace was the only thing she had to prove that they’d existed, whoever they were. Someone had gone to great lengths to make her feel special. They’d written little notes and left them in the most inconspicuous and yet unique places. There had been random acts of kindness, always by an anonymous giver. There had been treats left here and there, and even a song dedication on the radio. But the necklace had been the only gift that hadn’t been perishable. It had come in a pink box, laying on a small white cushion—a simple gold chain with a sapphire pendant surrounded by tiny heart-shaped aquamarine stones. The pendant was shaped like a numeral 3, but with a stem emerging from the top. She didn’t quite know what it meant, but it was beautiful. The stones sparkled and the colors matched her eyes perfectly. She loved that necklace and had worn it nearly every day since she received it. When the clasp broke and fell through the cracks in the grate, the natural thing to do was throw the grate open and climb into the sewer. 

“What’s going on down there?” a voice called from above. 

“Uh,” Marinette whimpered, “I lost something!”

“Marinette? Is that you?” She slogged through the sludge until she reached the ladder that led to the sewer grate she’d slipped through. 

“Who is that? Yes, it’s Marinette. Don’t worry, I’m fine. Am I in trouble?”

“Marinette? It’s Luka! I saw the grate open and just wanted to –what in the world are you doing in the sewer?”

She took a deep breath—and then regretted her decision instantly. “I’m… I’m giving up, is what I’m doing. I lost something, something precious to me. I but it’s no use,” she hiccupped, her voice hitching in her throat, “it’s gone. It’s lost forever.”

She gripped the edges of the ladder and started to hoist herself to the first rung, when an unexpected noise caused her to halt. The ladder was vibrating. Luka’s feet came into view above her, then his long, lean legs sporting his favorite slim jeans, then his thick black belt with small silver studs, his black hoodie, and at last, his hair bounced into view—black with teal tips and as soft as a downy chick. Marinette’s heart melted at the sight of him. “Luka,” she scolded softly, “you didn’t have to come down here.”

He turned on the ladder and smiled at her. Her heart melted even more. He let go of the ladder and jumped into the filth. It splashed up his pants and onto his Jagged Stone t-shirt. Marinette winced. He just took a step toward her and shrugged, “So, what are we looking for?”

She bit back a tear. He was so sweet and kind. She had a hard time asking for help, but Luka still seemed to know exactly when she needed it. “It’s,” she croaked, cleared her throat, and tried again, “it’s a necklace. Simple gold chain, sapphire and aquamarine pendant. It’s not very big, but it’s special to me.”

His eyes widened, “It’s special to you?”

She nodded enthusiastically, “Yes, someone gave it to me for Valentine’s day, after doing nice things all week. It really made me feel valued. I don’t want to lose it. I’d be heartbroken if I lost it.”

He blinked at her incredulously, “Heartbroken? I… I didn’t think it meant that much to you.”

She scowled. “Of _course_ it means a lot to me! Someone went out of their way all week to make me feel special. They did nice things and left nice notes, but only one thing wasn’t perishable—this necklace. I wear it all the time—usually under my shirt—because it reminds me that someone thought about me at a time when I didn’t feel very special at all.”

He shot her another strange look, “Marinette, you _are_ special.”

She rubbed the tears from her eyes, only to groan—her hand hadn’t been particularly clean, and now there was a smear of grime on her eyelid. “Ugh, this is nasty. You probably totally regret coming down here just now.”

He shook his head. “I would never regret a second I got to spend with you, Marinette. Not even in a sewer.”

She looked up at his warm, kind face and couldn’t stop the smile that dared to break her sour mood. “That’s kind. But if you want to go, I get it. It reeks down here, and you don’t even know what the necklace looks like—”

He fished into his pocket and carefully pulled out a gold chain, and dangling from that was the curiously-shaped sapphire and aquamarine pendant. “Does it look like this?” he quipped.

Marinette gasped. “My necklace! What in the, how did you—”

He pressed it into her trembling palm. “You dropped it on the sidewalk.”

“I thought it fell down the grate!”

“Nope, it was on the sidewalk.”

Marinette was so frustrated and overwhelmed that she felt her eyes prickle with tears. “Th-Thanks,” she muttered. Her voice didn’t hold much gratitude, even though she wasn’t upset with Luka. 

“Hey, Marinette, it’s ok,” Luka said quietly. “It’s safe.”

“I know,” she huffed. “It’s just that I really love that necklace and I thought it was lost and I came down and have been digging around in this muck for twenty minutes and I’m just so… so… UGH.”

He cocked his head to the side and chuckled, "Has anyone ever told you just how adorable you are? Because you really are."

She raised an eyebrow, “You think I’m adorable? Down here in all this filth?”

He nodded enthusiastically, “Yep. Always have. Why else would I have gotten you this necklace?”

Her eyes popped as she slogged to the ladder and hoisted herself up. “That was… That was from _you?”_

“Of course it was,” he laughed, “I thought you knew. I didn’t exactly keep it a secret. I mean, who else would have bought you a pendant shaped like a guitar?”

Suddenly it clicked. It all clicked. The notes had been pieces of song lyrics. The kind gestures and treats had all seemed to come from someone older, but someone who knew her very well. And what she thought was a 3 was the body of a _guitar!_ “Oh, I’m an idiot,” she grumbled. 

“No you’re not,” he said from behind her as they emerged to the street above, “You’re a funny girl, but you’re not an idiot.”

She stood there, wringing her hands, not sure what to say or do. “Luka,” she tried, “Thanks for helping me. And thanks for the necklace.”

He just smiled at her. “What do you say we go back to the Liberty and get cleaned up, and then we can hang out for a while? If you’ve got time?”

She looked up at his soft blue eyes and felt her heart clinch. “Luka, you’ve always been so kind to me. Really, thank you.”

He bit his lip and his gaze intensified. “You know why, Marinette. You must know why.”

She took a breath and nodded, “I know how you feel about me.”

“So the question is, how do you feel about me.”

She thought about it. She’d been thinking about it for months. She’d relied on him for so long. He’d always been this steady presence in her world—someone that she could trust with her feelings, someone who never criticized or questioned her, someone who loved her and accepted her exactly as she was. Luka was the kind of person Marinette wanted to be. But her feelings had slowly been growing into more than just admiration or respect—they now included attraction and hope and trust and longing and desire. She fingered the necklace in her hand. He had made her feel special, and now she really wanted to help him feel special too. 

“I… I feel the same way that you do,” she whispered.

* * *

Two hours later, Marinette and Luka (both freshly showered and changed) were curled up on the couch in his bedroom, listening to music, but mainly just enjoying being together. He traced the edge of her jaw with his finger. “I’m so happy right now,” he grinned. 

She sighed and breathed in the smell of soap from his chest. “Me too.”

He leaned in and kissed her tenderly. As she returned the kiss, she thanked the smelly sewer that brought them together at last.


End file.
